Millions of voters in Madagascar started to cast their votes on Sunday morning to choose their next president from among 14 candidates, including incumbent president Marc Ravalomanana.

Voting began at 7:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) and is projected to end at 6:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) at 1,7581 polling stations in six provinces across the Indian Ocean island, according to the official Election Committee.

The presidential election campaign, which kicked off on Nov. 12, closed peacefully last Friday with signs showing that Ravalomanana gaining a upper hand.

Final results of the election will be announced by the High Constitutional Court within three weeks after the voting, said an official of the Election Committee.

Ravalomanana has traveled all over the 111 districts around the country during the campaign, trying to convince 6.9 million registered voters that he would, if elected, continue his policy to build a better and more prosperous nation with a population of 17.5 million.

The candidates included Ravalomanana and Elia Ravelomanantsoa, the only female candidate; Pierrot Rajaonarivelo of the Association of the Rebirth of Madagascar (AREMA); former speaker of the National Assembly Jean Lahiniriko; former Church Minister Richard Andriamanjato; and Roland Ratsiraka, mayor of the east port city of Toamasina and nephew of former President Didier Ratsiraka.

According to the country's constitution, the president is elected by direct popular vote for a five-year term and the country's electoral system provides for holding a run-off in the event that there is no clear winner in the first round of ballots.

Ravalomanana has, since assuming power in 2002, managed to stabilize the country's economy and won the confidence of major multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

With its economy largely dependent on agriculture, which along with fishing and forestry contributes at least 25 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), the island nation also produces coffee, cassava, bananas, maize, sugar cane, potatoes and rice.

Source: Xinhua